Birthday Weekend

Eric and I went out to Vegas for my birthday weekend and had an amazing time. We went and saw Lion King. I loved it so much! The costumes and the beautiful voices everyone had made it fantastic.

Before the show and during intermission we went to the sports book at Mandalay Bay and were able to catch a few minutes of the game. It was fun because people were really into the games and everyone went wild when their teams made good plays. Love March Madness.

We had fun hanging out with the family. Some of our activities included:

Uncle Eric play time

Badminton

Easter Egg Hunts

Bingo

Cake (tres leches that is)

And Pinata!

 It was an amazing birthday! Thanks to everyone who made it so special.

TV Star

Well this doesn't happen everyday. I was offered a spot as a "character" on a reality tv show tonight.

I got a call from one of my friends asking me if I wanted to be apart of this show. His partner is a celebrity designer and is filming a pilot about him traveling and giving women makeovers; letting them know how a red carpet moment feels like. They wanted me to be the assistant on camera and off. Sounds like a really cool experience. The only catch was that they were leaving to go film the very next morning and would be gone for 10 days in an RV. So I had to turn it down since it was so last minute and could not change my work schedule. I thought it was pretty cool though that they thought of me and consider me "camera friendly."

Kinda sad I had to turn it down, but might be for the best. Just my luck it will be the number 1 show on Bravo or something.

Catch Up

Here are so random things that have been going on since I last posted 5 months ago:

-We Moved! We moved into an apartment in Torrance at the end of October. We love it and we are in a great ward.

-Eric is in the Young Men's teaching the priests, and I am in the Young Women's over the Beehives.

-Eric and I went to New York

-Eric won the Rice Family Decathlon during Christmas. I was a little upset by this, I thought I had a real shot; darn pine cone toss.

-My brother Jordan got his mission call, and is now in the MTC, going to Sao Paulo Brasil Interlagos Mission.

-Eric and I have discovered the wonders of the Library. Who knew they had so many great dvds?

-My sister, Kristin got married in December up in Oakland. So excited for her and Cuba. We had a fun time in San Fransico and can't wait to go back.

-My nephew Luke, likes Eric a lot. I told Luke that I loved him and he replied back, "Ya, I love Eric a lot." Don't worry that boy loves me and lets me know. Milesy has taken to calling me "Ommey", he thinks its so funny.

Thats all I can think of, and hope to be a better blogger in the future.

New York

Eric and I celebrated our anniversary back in September by going to New York City.
It was amazing! I want to go back as soon as possible. We had great weather and an amazing time.
We saw West Side Story, went to a taping of Jimmy Fallon, took a row boat out at Central Park, ate a lot of amazing food, walked the Brooklyn Bridge, rode bikes in Central Park, went to the Met, walked a lot, and so much more!

Here are some pics from our trip, sadly we kinda forgot to get some of ourselves.

USC Game

College Football season has begun and we are glad it's here. We went to the season opener for USC vs. San Jose State. It was a great game of USC destroying San Jose. We went with my dad and some family friends who have been going since the 50s. We had so much fun walking around on campus and seeing everyone in their USC get up. By the way it was the hottest day ever.

It was around 110 in the stadium, no cloud cover, and whatever breeze that came thru was like a gift from the heavens. Let's just say I got an awesome farmer's burn on my arms... And you know what, it was all worth it.

It's been a long time...

A lot has happened lately in our lives.

In April Eric graduated from BYU-Idaho. It was fun because both of our parents came up for the graduation/ helping us move.


Then we stopped in Vegas for a couple of days to hang out with Eric's family. Let's just say I have a bingo addiction now, not a big deal.

Jessica's face says it all: We did not win, but it was a lot of fun.




So we moved back down to Manhattan Beach and are living in the "La Casita." I worked for the Revlon Run/Walk for a couple of weeks. It was great because Kristin came down for the weekend, along with the wonderful Rice girls.

Eric and I are really excited to be down in LA and have a lot of adventures planned for the summer. Other good news, I had a miracle today and found my wedding ring!

Utah Weekend

So Eric and I went to Utah this past weekend and it was great!!!

We were able to spend time with my family at Heidi and Travis's house in Payson. Kristin and "Cuba" came and we played a disastrous game of Crainum. I will put it out there, sharades is not my game (December 2000 Snyder Family gathering, "basket" incident.) Luke and Miles were a delight. Miles stopped growling at me and we enjoyed our time. Luke became obsessed with Eric. He became "King" and Luke would say, "King, I love you King." It was so much fun.

Eric's parents came up for a wedding so we spent the rest of the weekend with Eric's family. Seriously, I could not have married into a better family. They are so much fun and hilarious. The wedding reception was fun and was at a motor speedway in Toole, Utah. Eric's parents took us to Costco. I forgot how much I love that place. It was so nice to be with family and get away from Rexburg for a brief time.

The only negative part of the weekend was that I lost my wedding ring. Yikes. I was looking at it in the car, and I accidently dropped it somewhere. It has yet to be found, but don't worry, I have found stuff from the previous owner, but I am optimistic I will find it.

Only at BYU-Idaho

Being on campus, I realized there are some things that I think I will experience and see at BYU-Idaho.

1. Kids walking around with arrows in their backpack. I was unaware that BYU-I was creating a legion of elves from LOTR.

2. Random girl walking outside, singing at the top of her lungs. Step aside Fräulein Maria, looks like you got some competition.

3.Unicycle boy. Some of those bikes are massive.

4. Poster in the health center "Thinking about starting a family? Then eat these vegetables."

5. Babies.

6. Pleasant employees. Charming smile, polite, enthusiastic conversation.

7. Large population of Pacific North westerners. How can I tell you may ask? Simple. Fleece, carabiner, new balance, cliff bar, and REI water bottle.


These small and simple things have only added to my joy of attending school here. You never know what you are going to see...

Tagged: Right now

So I was lurking and realized that Heidi tagged me in her blog. So I am copying her blog, which is a copy of Kate's blog.

Right now I love...
Fuji apples. delicious

Mail. Eric's mom sent us a Hickory Farms package, which was a delicious surprise. Those cheese balls are the devil, so good, I can't stop.

Pell Grants. This was a huge blessing! We got money for our tuition and books. Yay for free money.

Crock pots. Makes cooking so much easier.

Random songs...
Mark Morrison- Return of the Mac
Feist- Inside and Out
Finley Quaye- Even After All
Gloria Estefan- Betcha say that
Ray LaMontange- You are the best thing
The Killers- Day and Age Album

I do not like

Treadmills. I wish I could go run outside right now, but below freezing weather is not the best for running. I would give anything to go run on the strand. I hate the treadmill, because I am stuck; it also doesn't feel accurate.

Classy 97.3 This is the radio station that plays at work. Everyday these songs are guaranteed to play...
John Mayer- Say
Natasha Betingfield- Pocket of Sunshine
David Cook
Kelly Clarkson
Keith Urban
Daniel Powter- Bad Day

Homework. Research. Reading.

COLD WEATHER. our car wouldn't start this morning. They cancelled the surrounding schools, but BYU-I remained open. My feet are permanently frozen.

Bye Sin City, Welcome America's Family Town

So Eric and I moved back up to Rexburg this week for our final year up here. Thank goodness. Even though Rexburg is kinda lame because of the snow and there is nothing around, there are some positives.

Things I like about Rexburg:
1. Our apartment is really nice (this is very important because to be stuck in a dump in Idaho surrounded by snow is kinda depressing)
2. I love my job. I am a receptionist for the school and everyone is really nice, I can wear whatever I want, and they let me do my homework.
3.Excited for my classes, some are going to be really interesting and fun.
4. seeing old friends

Things I miss about Las Vegas:
1. It's Vegas, so much to do!
2. Being close to family
3. Anthropologie (so much fun to work there, discount wasn't to bad either)
4. Seeing the strip from our apartment
5. Nice weather

Also Eric's parents helped move us up so they had fun with them this past weekend. We drove up to Jackson Hole. Really pretty drive, but as soon as we got up there we walked around for a couple of minutes and got in the car; it was -10.

Catch Up

Well, I am a very bad blogger. So as Heidi puts it here is some blog vomit.

Eric and I got married September 20th in the LA temple. Thank you to my amazing family for putting my wedding together... you guys were amazing.


Then we went to Costa Rica on our honeymoon. It was so beautiful. There was tons of animals everywhere, we saw a volcano spewing out lava, and the raccoons loved me.


Now we are in Vegas; life is great. I love my job, love being married, and love life.

I thought I would post some pictures of Eric and me for my blog readers. (I think besides family there are 3 other people...) Anyways, Heidi took pictures for us 4th of July weekend and I love them.

Kinda a Big Deal

I thought I should take the time to write about a very important event in my life...

I got engaged to Eric Rice on May 17th!
And I couldn't be any happier.
I am so excited to marry Eric and I love him so much.

Who knew this could happen to me, let me tell you, awkward 16-17 year old Whitney never thought so. Travis knows better than anyone my teenage anguish... all in vain.

Well I am the happiest I have ever been, life is just simply great, and I hope to see everyone on September 20, 2008 for my wedding!

Champ status.

I know that I talk a lot about how much I love my family, and that my sister Heidi is talented, but this blog will show that the proof is in the red velvet.

Well it starts out that I was joking around with my sister and told her for my birthday that I wanted a red velvet armadillo cake like the one in the 1989 classic film, Steel Magnolias. Well Mrs. Snyder took upon this challenge and created a four layer red velvet cake for me. The actual armadillo did not work out, but in hindsight I am really glad cause I would have felt dirty eating it.



The four layer cake was so rich that I was done after one small slice (and for anyone who knows me, it takes a lot for me to tap out when eating something delicious) It was amazing. What even made the cake even better was the fact that I had to take it back to California with me in a cooler with armadillo drawings, and warnings of a live armadillo inside.


Best cake I have ever had.

Thank You

In music, it is hard to find a complete amazing album, but when you do it's pure gold. Especially when the music scene is filled with junk like Low by Flo Rida, Taylor Swift, and don't forget Miley Cyrus. Yikes. So I want to say a thank you to those albums that I treasure.

Plans- Death Cab for Cutie (Known as my high school phase, whining to Travis, asking if "Someday if I will be loved")

In Rainbows- Radiohead (Perfect mix of soft, hard, perfect mood music)

Unplugged- Mana (this just makes me happy)

Guero- Beck = Summer

Finding Forever- Common (Real Hip-Hop)

*Honorable Mention- Continuum- John Mayer (I love this album, but I am a little hesitant, just because I absolutely despise the song Waiting on the World to Change, really? His worst song.)

Anyways, I am always looking for good new music, and for the wonderful complete albums of bliss.

Baking Nightmare

I would like to share an experience of my recent quest to be well rounded and girlish. I decided to follow in my mother's footsteps and make her famous sugar cookies for valentine's day. Yikes. They failed terribly. First the dough tasted too salty and did not mix well. (Just letting you know I followed the reciepe exactly) Then I baked them too long, so that they were heart shaped bricks. I considered constructing a heart house out of them with frosting; but did not follow through, thank goodnes. Well the frosting... How could I get that wrong, its on the bag. Yep, I messed that up too. I tried so hard, even put on a apron to help harness some baking powers; but alas it was in vain.

I have learned that I am the only Ghent who lacks cooking abilities. I guess that's okay. My strengths lie in other areas...
Naming celebrities
Name that tune
Napping

(Looking at this I think I might have a disablility, that I can only succeed in E channel business)

Let's just pray I can find someone that does not have taste buds.